The purchase likely buys Apple some fresh talent for Logic and GarageBand.

Apple is reportedly in the process of acquiring a tiny Italian software firm specializing in sample-based instrument creation and editing tools, according to Italian site Fanpage. The acquisition was approved by Italian antitrust regulatory agency AGCM on May 9, which published a bulletin of its recent activities on May 28.

Redmatica makes a number of apps that aid audio engineers and musicians to create sample-based instruments for use in a variety of audio software, including Kontact, Reason, Logic, and GarageBand. Notably, its GBSamplerManager allows editing or creating simple sample-based instruments which can be uploaded into GarageBand for iOS.

AGCM ruled that Apple's acquisition of the tiny firm, which has revenues of less than €1 million, would not adversely affect competition in the digital audio software market. On that basis, the agency declined to investigate the merger further.

Apple often makes acquisitions that don't directly result in new products—at least not immediately—and it's not clear how Redmatica's niche offerings could be repackaged or sold by Apple. We suspect that the acquisition is largely for talent, as well as underlying technology which could be added to Logic or GarageBand.